Did he telephone BATF within 48 hours of discovering the theft and then submit a written report to BATF on BATF Form 3310.11? Did he report the theft to local law enforcement authorities and obtain a case number? Did he make the appropriate entries to his "bound book"? He was required by 27CFR 478.39a to take these actions. If he complied, he should have had no problems with BATF. If he didn't or was late in reporting, that may have been the source of his troubles.

Yes jumped through all the hoops and they did not fine him or anything like that. His insurance finally paid off on the stolen guns but it was quite a hassle and he said it wasn't worth it happening again.

have had an 01 in the past and have an active 03 now and never had a problem with the BATF. Sounds like the folks getting questioned are doing some dealings above and beyond what would be considered collecting.

I buy a lot of C&R guns and sell a few like the others have said, but it is never for a business or profit purpose. when an agent looks in someones books and sees a lot of sales then they will only look further and nail the person in question.

as long as you don't go nuts with selling then no worries. and yes keep your records straight and keep them for 20 years per transaction. I keep both a hard and soft copy of mine (you have to have a hard copy per BATF regs and the soft copy is just for me in case my hard copy gets destroyed).

I have had my C&R FFL for close to 15 years and I never heard anything form the BATF about it. Even when I got a Form 6 approved (import permit), the local BATF office still did not bother me at all. The only time I talked to an inspector was when a guy I knew was selling guns without a license at gunshows. The BATF inspector called and asked me many probing questions about him and how I knew him - he was a complete ass, that was over 10 years ago but I will never forget it. I was expecting a raid after I hung up the phone. The raid never happened and I have not talked to them since.

A friend of mine had it happen to him. He got a call and made an appointment with them when it was convenient for both of them. He said the lady who showed up was very polite and professional about it. She looked through his bound book and asked to see a few firearms at random, which he held for her with his white cotton gloves on while she verified the serial numbers (very collectible Lugers mostly).

He said the ATF lady was only there maybe 30 minutes and never said what triggered the visit.

__________________
bob

Disclaimers: I am not a lawyer, cop, soldier, gunsmith, politician, plumber, electrician, or a professional practitioner of many of the other things I comment on in this forum.

The very first call I recieved after the damaged phone lines were repaired (post Katrina) was from the ATF...They wated to know if my guns we intact and under my control...I recieved another identical call from a different agent about two weeks later..

My impression is the ATF is much more uptight about handguns going through C&R then anything else. If you order a bunch of Nagant revolvers or something the dealer who sells them is requested to inform the ATFE, or so I have heard. Buy a few crates of K31s and no one cares.

ATFE agents probably don't know enough about the value of different handguns to tell which might be used in a crime and which might not.

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